Berto vs. Ortiz II Cancellation Can Only Hurt Boxing

The cancellation of the Andre Berto(28-1 22 KO) and Victor Oritz (29-3-2 22 KO) II bout was announced yesterday by network officials and promoters Golden Boy Promotions and Lou DiBella Entertainment. Berto ruptured his left bicep during training and will most likely require surgery to repair it. Am I the only one seeing a pattern here? It seems that at least recently, big-name fights have for the most part disappointed the audience and the boxing community as a whole, while lesser-known fighters who struggle to gain publicity put on tremendous and dramatic fights. Think of Mayweather vs. Ortiz and Hernan Marquez vs. Luis Concepcion. There is no comparison. Yet, the Mayweather vs. Ortiz bout received huge publicity simply because Mayweather is considered a star. Now clearly, Berto vs. Ortiz II cannot compete with Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao but the fight did receive a good amount of publicity and was highly anticipated by boxing fans. And now it’s not going to happen, at least not for the date we anticipated. Things like this leave a sour taste on boxing fans and keep away potential fans. It is a shame because this was an extremely important fight for both fighters. Both fighters were trying to redeem themselves from humiliating and humbling experiences. Even though Berto beat Jan Zavek in his last fight, most people ignore that fight and remember how dazed and confused he seemed the first time he met with Victor Ortiz. Virtually everyone recalls the embarrassment of Ortiz’s naïve outing against Mayweather, regardless of whether you think it was a sucker punch or not. This rematch was supposed to answer the questions we had for both fighters. It seems we’re going to have to wait.

As of this publication, Ortiz has no opponent. However, rumors are circulating around the World Wide Web (great source) that Amir Khan (26-2 18 KO) could be a possible opponent. If this bout were to happen, one could assume that Khan would have to move up to welterweight and give up his plans for an immediate rematch with Lamont Peterson.